Dryads
Dryads are a kind of nymph, which are spirits attached to something in nature. Specifically, dryads are attached to trees. Dryads reside in their tree, but can take the form of a humanoid, mostly female, but male dryads are sometimes known as hamadryads. They live in families called copse, which can be referred to as tribes. There are few lone dryads and hamadryads, but they are the most well-known. Dryads can be found in any forest, but usually in ones without many interruptions from the nonmagical world. They are similar to ents or treents, but take on a different form. They are also similar in appearance to elves, but they have far more drastic attributes, namely their ears. Appearance Dryads, in their humanoid form, may have attributes like their tree, such as papery skin for a birch dryad or a bittersweet personality or scent for a crabapple dryad. All dryads have pointed ears that are on an 170-degree angle. They 'eat' sunlight through photosynthesis. When they blush, they blush green from chlorophyll. They cry chlorophyll or sap, depending on the dryad. They have similar delicate features to the elves, but dryad's features are more exaggerated in the way of their tree. If it is a willow dryad, their features might be longer, more 'flowing'. If it's an oak dryad, they might be more knobbly, if the oak in question has lots of knots. Dryads dress in organic materials such as magically enlarged leaf dresses, sewn with grass, and they also weave their own silk, unless they have moved closer to a magical society. Powers Dryads have a connection with their trees. When they take on a humanoid form, they can't go far from their tree. 'Far' is determined by the strength and flexibility of the tree and its spirit. Some dryads can go as far as two miles from their tree. However, the farther away from their tree they are, the weaker they get. This also occurs when seperated by stone, water, or metals, especially so with iron. The trees can uproot themselves and walk, but not for long distances, 'long' also determined by strength and flexibility. They can bend and use their limbs as arms or hands, which comes in handy when some lumberjack tries to chop it down. A special copse called the Racles have phrophetic powers and are well-known Oracles of the magical world. Dryads can do the majority of magical spells when given instruction and time to build up their strength, but it leaves them quite weak. They excell at healing and growth spells. They also have long lives, if not ended unnaturally. Social Structure In each copse is a head hamadryad and a head dryad, similar to a father and mother to the rest of the copse. Their word is law, but they also differ to their original copse and extended family when they are making a big decision. The Racles are the mother copse for many of the other copse, although not all of their children report to them, since ties are distant and little sap is shared outside of the immediate copse. The head dryad and hamadryad aren't always the parents of their children, since trees don't mate- for life or at all. It's a matter of chance pollination and germination. Sometimes the dryad's seed is pollinated by a tree that doesn't have a spirit guardian, and it's a fifty-fifty chance of being a dryad. In important copse, there is a distinct difference in class. The head dryad and hamadryad are the top of the social ladder. Their direct descendants are next, then the mix that are a head and a direct, then direct and direct, etc. It's not terribly important, just judgement and protocol. Location Dryads reside all over the earth, usually in their copse but sometimes alone. They prefer out of the way forests, mostly old growth, but some live near humans. More prominent copse tend to live near magical cities or places of power. One known copse of Racles lives near Mytin﻿. Category:Magical Races